Resident Evil : Requiem

Hello, I am Laguna from J&L. English is my third language, blah blah blah. Please forgive me if you feel that my writing skills aren't up to par.

~

This review contains no spoilers that I'm aware of!

I have been a Resident Evil fan since I got my hands on Resident Evil 3 when I was seven or eight years old. That's probably one of the reasons why I thought I would give this game a try. I soon realized that the project was not properly prepared for distribution. If a .rxproj file is added, the actual contents of the game can be seen and modified at will. I've taken advantage of this in order to obtain a better insight for this review's sake.

Graphics, visuals, atmosphere 2/5

The game's main tilesets were surprisingly original and had potential. The oldschool RE custom menu and the HUD look and feel appropriate. However, that's as far as the "Good things" department goes.

The few enemy types show no variation whatsoever through the game. That means that every single zombie you will see is effectively a genetic copy of the one that you just killed. The "simulation" maps have atrocious tilesets, unsightly effects and some elements that are completely out of place.



The game's indoor maps would benefit greatly from static fogs that directed the player's attention towards certain spots and gave the creepy and abandoned feeling that the classic Resident Evil mansions possessed. Instead, moving fogs can be found.



The game's icons, ripped from various RE games, do their job well enough and blend with the rest of the menu. The fact that all items are ripped suggests that the current and future item repertoire is limited. The scale and appearance of the puzzles leaves much to be desired, often being too big (huge chess pieces in a tiny room) or too small (two holes in a wall that are easy to miss) and in no way original. The game will often make you type numerical passwords using the default on-screen keyboard for character naming, instead of bringing up a more customized interface.

The game's loading screen and title screen don't stand out and the introduction seems lazily put together.

Music, sound 2/5

The music in RE: Remake - Disc 1 is taken straight from the RE franchise and is given an overall poor use. Whereas the Resident Evil games give each area a particular theme that is easily associated with it, in this game you will find that nearly every single room has its own track. If you consider the fact that you will most likely navigate through some of the rooms quickly and often, the soundtrack loses all of its purpose.

On the other hand, the game's sound effects are decent and diverse. The in-game voice acting is more than welcome and seems to be at a different level from the rest of elements. The in-game text doesn't always match the narrator's voice and sometimes doesn't even show up at all, forcing you to listen to the slow-paced voice. This can be a major nuisance when a puzzle is involved.

Another annoying issue is the fact that the few enemies that produce sound when moving will do so at the same volume no matter how far your are from them. You will know what I'm talking about if you decide to escape the Licker in the outdoor ruin map.

Gameplay 1.5/5

I had mixed feelings about this department. The game's overall appearance is that of a project made by someone very unfamiliar with some of the most basic knowledge that RPG Maker XP requires. How could it be that such a complicated, script-based system was present in this otherwise poorly built project?

Well, I only had to read the game's description again to quickly find out that the system is not made by the person who is in charge of the rest of the game's development.

The game has long, long list of gameplay issues:

- Enemies have an extremely variable and random maximum health and there is nothing that hints the existence of this frustrating fact. Even in the same category, some enemies go down easily while others are tougher.
- The enemy placement is terrible. In a game with a tile-based movement where it's so easy to get stuck, having two zombies right at you as soon is as you appear on a map is a serious crime against the player's mental health. Suddenly, killing zombies becomes a matter of taking out those that will attack you first as soon as you return to that room. It should not be this way. This is a recurrent issue through Disc 1.
- The controls in the title screen are reversed, will will make you end the game if you attempt to the usual Down + C to acess the load screen.
- Knifing is not a matter of timing and skill. Instead, it is a non-consistent and broken mechanic that will never get you far without being damaged.
- There are still game crashing errors due to missing files in the latest available version.

There are some other minor issues, too.

- Many events don't have their Direction Fix box checked, leading to hilarious results (an open door that is apparently closed, for instance).
- The weapons' damage output is low and not particularly balanced.
- The zombie's behaviour and movement are unnatural and particularly painful to watch when many of them perform it in a perfect sync.
- The game could use a better distribution of the controls.
- The "EASY" game mode simply gives the player a couple more items at the beginning of the game (correct me if I'm wrong) while nothing else changes.
- The game does not use the classic feature of "using" items from the menu that is actually implemented. Instead, they are automatically used when the player checks the right spot. I felt like an idiot after trying to use a particular item many times without result and then found out that all I had to do was press C on it. In RE games, this kind of thing makes sure that you know exactly what to use and where to use it. It ultimately rewards players for their intelligence.
- The enemies that leave corpses don't have their dying places' coordinates registered, so they will appear back where they started when you return.
-There are some really bad issues of passability and priority settings.



The systems taken straight from the Resident Evil games don't shine much. Limited saving is a pain considering how unforgiving the game can be (some of the puzzles can actually kill you). Given the relatively low amount of items to be found, the item-saving box isn't particularly useful.

Story 0.5/5

The game's introduction is three painful minutes long. Not long ago, I reflected that long cutscenes and introductions aren't necessarily bad. However, this is a textbook example of what NOT to do. During this lenghty intro, all we see is the purposeless movement of the game's logo and some minor credits.



We are thrown right into the story, with no background whatsoever other than what the game's profile gave us. The game offers no explanation for this new mansion's existence or why a huge city simulation map similar to the latest RE movie's is attached to it.

You will find that the game's broken English translation is surprisingly one of the less annoying elements of the almost non-existing story. Many Resident Evil have compelling stories that are hidden in the game's files or even a fascinatingly complicated main plot, such as Code Veronica's. The addition of a brand new character had potential, bu I feel that RE: Remake - Disc 1 has failed in this department as well.



The game's puzzles also miss the essence that make the puzzles in Resident Evil so great. They do not blend well with the rest of rooms they are located in, and none of them have any charm or trait that makes them unique or related to the story in any way (such as the puzzles involving music boxes in Code Veronica or the ones in which you are supposed to produce an anti-virus for plot reasons). They are often too easy or too hard to figure out due to the severe lack of proper explanations.

The game also fails to reward players that check the closets and drawers, placing the items in plain sight instead. The room's different elements offer dull descriptions and little more. Ultimately, most of the rooms lack anything that gives you an idea of what the purpose of that room is.

Conclusion 1.5/5

The game operates on a pretty neat system that could be easily improved. However, a good custom system such as XAS or this one can not hold the weight of the project's overall quality. There is something wrong when the best part of your project is made by another person.

RE: Remake - Disc 1 is poorly built, messy, and needs heavy doses of improvement in nearly every aspect. Some of the core mechanics of the system the game is built upon are worth keeping. Other than that, this projects needs an ironic remake.